Meet Rachel

Conversation

What’s up ya’ll . My name is Rachel and I’m in the 10th grade. I am originally from good ole Greenville, Mississippi. My dad just got a new job and we moved to Chicago, which is a really big city. I absolutely love it here. There are beaches, deep dish pizza, and snow; we never had anything like this in Greenville. I attend North Chicago High School, where all my teachers are extremely inspiring. They have motivated me to want to become a teacher one day. Anyways, I don’t want to talk your ear off about me, but I wanted to know if I could confide in you.

Oh my gosh, this is wonderful. Thanks, friend! So, I’ve have been attending tryouts for the debate team. At each try out, I have to debate on a random topic against another person, who is also trying out for the team. I always lose…because of the way I talk. The captain says that I sound like a stupid country bumpkin. The team’s members always claim that they can never understand anything I say. To be honest, its downright humiliating. Not to toot my own horn, but I was captain of the debate team at my old school and won every competition. No one ever has a problem with my southern accent until now. Please tell me that you can help make the situation better?

Thanks so much for trying to help, but I would rather not change who I am just to be liked by the debate team. I don’t want to be on the team that bad. I understand that you thought the mock debates would help me work on my word pronunciation, but I love the way I talk. I enjoy debating and I am good at it, too. If the debate team is too stuck on my accent to realize it, then so be it. The debate team will have to accept me the way I am or I will find another club to join that will accept me, for me. Either way, I plan to stay true to who I am.

Not a day goes by where I don’t think about what would’ve happened if I would’ve kept going to tryouts. I am sure the debate team would have recognized my potential and would have seen pass my accent. Why did you convince me to give up? We were suppose to be friends and support each other. Instead, you were narrowed minded and allowed me to take the easy way out. Now, I have nothing to do after school. I have no friends and no extracurricular activities to participate in. I wish I could go back to Mississippi!

OH MY GOSH! I can not believe that you told Mr. Winfield about this. He cancelled tryouts completely. Now, I will never have a shot at proving myself to the team. This was suppose to be between just me and you, but no, you just had to go open your mouth and get Mr. Winfield involved. If I had known you were going to do this, I would have never trusted you.

You are a bonafide genius! I took your advice and continued to go to tryouts and guess what?! I made the team! The captain said that he could tell that I was truly dedicated to becoming a member of the team. I did not have to change the way I talked or anything to show my true potential. The team just recognized it through my hard work. This is all because you encouraged me not to give up. You are a really great friend. Hopefully, one day, I’ll be able to return the favor and be as big a help for you as you have been for me, friend.

Who We Are

This tool is a creation of the Culturally Relevant Computing Lab at Morehouse College. The lab is directed by Dr. Kinnis Gosha, Assistant Professor in the Computer Science Department.